Table of contents
Volume 422 Number 6929 pp243-357
Editorial
How to slake a planet's thirst p243
Our growing demand for water threatens the world's development and security. Solving this crisis need not involve flashy technologies. But it will require science, plus a large dose of political will.
doi:10.1038/422243a
News
Biodefence plans earn lukewarm response from US academics p245
Erika Check
doi:10.1038/422245a
Biotech firms join charities in drive to help Africa's farms p246
Hannah Hoag
doi:10.1038/422246a
Health labs focus on mystery pneumonia p247
David Cyranoski
Chicken flu races through Dutch poultry farms p247
Alison Abbott
doi:10.1038/422247b
Revamped accelerator seeks quark's secrets p248
Geoff Brumfiel
doi:10.1038/422248a
NATO reform promises more publicity for less science p248
Quirin Schiermeier
doi:10.1038/422248b
NASA intensifies probe into Columbia failure p249
Tony Reichhardt
Alien-hunters get scope to search p249
John Whitfield
doi:10.1038/422249b
news feature
The world's forgotten crisis p251
Over a billion people cannot get clean water, and things are getting worse.
Peter Aldhous
Atlas of a thirsty planet p252
doi:10.1038/422252a
Delta blues p254
Living on the flood plain of three great rivers, the people of Bangladesh endure floods, drought, water-borne disease and much else besides. Can they entertain any hope of relief? Tom Clarke investigates.
Tom Clarke
Correspondence
Venezuela: the other side of the story p257
No political campaigning in public institutions, but free speech is manifest in e-mail debate.
M. García Sucre, L. Marcano, R. Padrón, J. Acosta and L. Burguillos
doi:10.1038/422257a
Venezuela: crisis puts major institutions at risk p257
Jaime Requena
doi:10.1038/422257b
If atomic precision is unfeasible, so is life p257
K. Eric Drexler
doi:10.1038/422257c
Commentary
The politics of publication p259
Authors, reviewers and editors must act to protect the quality of research.
doi:10.1038/422259a
Book Reviews
Counting the cost p263
Can cost–benefit analysis solve the problem of assessing environmental risk?
Raymond T. Pierrehumbert reviews Risk and Reason: Safety, Law, and the Environment by Cass R. Sunstein
doi:10.1038/422263a
The smart bird of the south p264
Yvon Le Maho and David Grémillet review The Adélie Penguin: Bellwether of Climate Change by David G. Ainley
doi:10.1038/422264a
A relative view of the Universe p264
doi:10.1038/422264b
Networks untangled p265
Lada Adamic reviews Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age by Duncan J. Watts
doi:10.1038/422265a
New in paperback p265
doi:10.1038/422265b
Correction p265
doi:10.1038/422265c
News and Views
Cell biology: Just mix and patch p267
A single layer of epithelial cells makes up the primary barrier to infection in our bodies. This layer is poised to repair damage quickly, patching up any holes to keep invading organisms out.
Keith Mostov and Mirjam Zegers
doi:10.1038/422267a
Astronomy: Glowing embers p268
The combined efforts of telescopes around the world have tracked the development of the 'afterglow' that follows a 
-ray burst, from only minutes after the burst until weeks later.
Tsvi Piran
doi:10.1038/422268a
Genomics: Gene expression meets genetics p269
Genetic analyses look for differences in gene sequence that could explain variation in physical traits. Gene-expression studies provide a snapshot of active genes. These approaches are now combined, to great effect.
Ariel Darvasi
doi:10.1038/422269a
Optics: Ado about nothing much? p271
Reports of signals travelling faster than the speed of light have captured the imagination of scientists and laymen alike. But there is an explanation for these effects that leaves Einstein's tenet intact.
Markus Büttiker and Sean Washburn
doi:10.1038/422271a
Developmental biology: A hairy situation p272
A key step in hair-follicle development is the rearrangement of epithelial stem cells. It seems that reduced production of an adhesion protein, through the concerted action of two signalling pathways, is crucial for this process.
Yann Barrandon
doi:10.1038/422272a
Meteorology: Getting the wind up p273
Heike Langenberg
doi:10.1038/422273a
Obituary: Jean Brossel (1918–2003) p274
Franck Laloë
doi:10.1038/422274a
news and views in brief p275
doi:10.1038/422275a
Brief Communications
Surveillance: Radiographic imaging with cosmic-ray muons p277
Natural background particles could be exploited to detect concealed nuclear materials.
Konstantin N. Borozdin, Gary E. Hogan, Christopher Morris, William C. Priedhorsky, Alexander Saunders, Larry J. Schultz and Margaret E. Teasdale
doi:10.1038/422277a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (192K)
Palaeo-oceanography: Deepwater variability in the Holocene epoch p277
Delia W. Oppo, Jerry F. McManus and James L. Cullen
doi:10.1038/422277b
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (192K) | Supplementary information
Article
Reduced drag coefficient for high wind speeds in tropical cyclones p279
Mark D. Powell, Peter J. Vickery and Timothy A. Reinhold
doi:10.1038/nature01481
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (282K)
See also: News and Views by Langenberg
Letters to Nature
Early optical emission from the 
-ray burst of 4 October 2002 p284
D. W. Fox, S. Yost, S. R. Kulkarni, K. Torii, T. Kato, H. Yamaoka, M. Sako, F. A. Harrison, R. Sari, P. A. Price, E. Berger, A. M. Soderberg, S. G. Djorgovski, A. J. Barth, S. H. Pravdo, D. A. Frail, A. Gal-Yam, Y. Lipkin, T. Mauch, C. Harrison and H. Buttery
doi:10.1038/nature01504
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (374K)
See also: News and Views by Piran
Femtosecond X-ray measurement of coherent lattice vibrations near the Lindemann stability limit p287
Klaus Sokolowski-Tinten, Christian Blome, Juris Blums, Andrea Cavalleri, Clemens Dietrich, Alexander Tarasevitch, Ingo Uschmann, Eckhard Förster, Martin Kammler, Michael Horn-von-Hoegen and Dietrich von der Linde
doi:10.1038/nature01490
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (186K)
Phonon interpretation of the 'boson peak' in supercooled liquids p289
T. S. Grigera, V. Martín-Mayor, G. Parisi and P. Verrocchio
doi:10.1038/nature01475
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (430K)
Detection of human influence on sea-level pressure p292
Nathan P. Gillett, Francis W. Zwiers, Andrew J. Weaver and Peter A. Stott
doi:10.1038/nature01487
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (470K)
Enhanced mantle-to-crust rhenium transfer in undegassed arc magmas p294
Weidong Sun, Vickie C. Bennett, Stephen M. Eggins, Vadim S. Kamenetsky and Richard J. Arculus
doi:10.1038/nature01482
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (186K) | Supplementary information
Genetics of gene expression surveyed in maize, mouse and man p297
Eric E. Schadt, Stephanie A. Monks, Thomas A. Drake, Aldons J. Lusis, Nam Che, Veronica Colinayo, Thomas G. Ruff, Stephen B. Milligan, John R. Lamb, Guy Cavet, Peter S. Linsley, Mao Mao, Roland B. Stoughton and Stephen H. Friend
doi:10.1038/nature01434
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (383K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Darvasi
Glycine binding primes NMDA receptor internalization p302
Yi Nong, Yue-Qiao Huang, William Ju, Lorraine V. Kalia, Gholamreza Ahmadian, Yu Tian Wang and Michael W. Salter
doi:10.1038/nature01497
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (523K) | Supplementary information
Antibody neutralization and escape by HIV-1 p307
Xiping Wei, Julie M. Decker, Shuyi Wang, Huxiong Hui, John C. Kappes, Xiaoyun Wu, Jesus F. Salazar-Gonzalez, Maria G. Salazar, J. Michael Kilby, Michael S. Saag, Natalia L. Komarova, Martin A. Nowak, Beatrice H. Hahn, Peter D. Kwong and George M. Shaw
doi:10.1038/nature01470
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,144K) | Supplementary information
Hedgehog signalling within airway epithelial progenitors and in small-cell lung cancer p313
D. Neil Watkins, David M. Berman, Scott G. Burkholder, Baolin Wang, Philip A. Beachy and Stephen B. Baylin
doi:10.1038/nature01493
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (519K) | Supplementary information
Links between signal transduction, transcription and adhesion in epithelial bud development p317
Colin Jamora, Ramanuj DasGupta, Pawel Kocieniewski and Elaine Fuchs
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (694K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Barrandon
Segregation of receptor and ligand regulates activation of epithelial growth factor receptor p322
Paola D. Vermeer, Lisa A. Einwalter, Thomas O. Moninger, Tatiana Rokhlina, Jeffrey A. Kern, Joseph Zabner and Michael J. Welsh
doi:10.1038/nature01440
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (449K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Mostov & Zegers
The Par complex directs asymmetric cell division by phosphorylating the cytoskeletal protein Lgl p326
Jörg Betschinger, Karl Mechtler and Juergen A. Knoblich
doi:10.1038/nature01486
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (644K)
Insights into the ubiquitin transfer cascade from the structure of the activating enzyme for NEDD8 p330
Helen Walden, Michael S. Podgorski and Brenda A. Schulman
doi:10.1038/nature01456
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (432K) | Supplementary information
Technology Features
Drug target validation: Hitting the target p341
The route to new therapeutics often ends in costly failure. The secret of success is the rapid and accurate identification of drug targets with true potential, says Caitlin Smith.
Caitlin Smith
doi:10.1038/422341a
A question of form p341
Caitlin Smith
doi:10.1038/422341b
The silent treatment p342
Caitlin Smith
doi:10.1038/422343a
A whole picture p345
Caitlin Smith
doi:10.1038/422345a
table of suppliers p349
doi:10.1038/422349a
Naturejobs
ProspectsThe glory of autonomy p353
Paul Smaglik
doi:10.1038/nj6929-353a
CAREERS AND RECRUITMENT
Victims of success p354
The doubling of public funds for life-science research in the United States has increased the number of postdocs, but it has yet to create significantly more permanent academic positions, says Eugene Russo.
Eugene Russo
doi:10.1038/nj6929-354a
Clouded vision p356
The European Union has dreams of becoming a centralized scientific powerhouse. But first it needs to solve its brain-drain problem. Quirin Schiermeier reports.
Quirin Schiermeier
doi:10.1038/nj6929-356a